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UNC-Charlotte AD Says Football Program Doing Well Financially Heading To FBS Level

UNC-Charlotte's football team this year moves from being an FCS independent to Conference USA, and the school spent $2M to "join the upper level of football," according to Erik Spanberg of the CHARLOTTE BUSINESS JOURNAL. The school had to "add lights" at Jerry Richardson Stadium as well as fund 85 scholarships. Charlotte AD Judy Rose recently spoke about the "growth of football and the challenges ahead." 

On joining Conference USA: We’ve actually done well, financially, with football so far. Is it going to cost us more as we move up? Yes. But do we anticipate attendance to be better? I do.

On the requirement for FBS teams to average 15,000 fans: It is the full stadium (capacity at Charlotte). But [there are] things you’re allowed to do. You can play at a neutral site and that counts. ... It’s something we’ll look at. We might play at Bank of America Stadium if the opportunity arose.

On ticket revenue: Attendance wasn’t as good (in 2014), but it doesn’t mean the tickets weren’t sold. Attendance is one thing, paid attendance is another. ... We’ve had some companies step up and buy X number (of tickets) to support the program. Bank of America did, Compass Group, some of those.

On student attendance: We all know what the issues are. Television. We want to be on television, we want exposure for our (teams), and we have contracts through our conference. ... So it's a little bit of a double-edged sword. ... We have moved the student tailgating area closer to the stadium (for this season). ... We were far above (the percentage of tickets given to students at other schools). There were empty seats. In conjunction with student government, we said, let’s make it 4,500 (student seats instead of 7,000) and make supply and demand more of an issue.

On major issues ahead: You can’t be paying people at FCS salaries. That all bumped up in July. Travel, we’re chartering now. Our budget overall for the athletic program is $27 million. ... Is football paying for itself? No. Not many (college football programs) do. ... The marketplace is a little bit saturated with all of the television entities. We continue to be hopeful that (conference TV money is) going to remain strong (BIZJOURNALS.com, 8/26). 

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